1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to a construction kit which consists of construction elements with magnetic elements and ferromagnetic spheres.
Construction kits of the type mentioned initially are intended particularly for use as children's toys, educational toys, for producing decorative objects or for applications in technology, for example, for producing architectural models.
2. Background of the Invention
A construction kit is already known which contains construction elements in the form of plastic rods with two permanent magnets in the ends and ferromagnetic spheres, which can be placed between the end side magnets of two construction elements to join these with a magnetic bond which can be detached. Two- and three-dimensional, network-like structures of various different designs can be formed with these construction elements.
The structures made of bar-shaped and spherical components are relatively unstable. Therefore, relatively strong permanent magnets are used and a small pin made of iron or ferromagnetic material is inserted in each plastic rod between the two magnets to increase the magnetic bonding forces.
A further disadvantage of the known construction kit is that it can only be used to make network-type or “open structures.”
A construction kit of the type described above is the subject of WO 99/60583 A1.
DE 39 10 304 A1 discloses a construction kit, in which the construction elements have ferromagnetic contact surfaces and the connections are permanent magnets or contain these (claim 1). According to claim 3, the construction elements may particularly be panels and the connections particularly spheres. Claim 4 refers, amongst other things, to the contact surfaces of the construction elements, which are concave and are adapted to the convex surfaces of the connections (e.g., spheres). The structure of the spheres is illustrated in FIG. 2 and described in column 4, line 60 to column 5, line 57. These spheres have a very complex structure and are very expensive to manufacture. In use, they have the disadvantage that the construction elements can only aligned at certain angles to the spherical connections, as otherwise an adequate magnetic bond cannot be brought about.
DE 33 23 489 A1 discloses a toy and means of instruction based on spherical elements, in which the spheres contain magnetic elements. The spheres serve to clamp and hold in place strip-type elements via the magnetic forces which are acting between spheres in different layers. This is illustrated in FIG. 3. The strips are made of “Perspex” and do not contain any ferromagnetic elements.